Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, apparatus, and products for establishing an action list for reconfiguration of hardware components in a remote location.
Description of Related Art
A remote laboratory (also known as online laboratory, remote workbench) provides a customer the use of telecommunications to remotely conduct real (as opposed to virtual) experiments, at the physical location of the operating technology, while the customer utilizing technology from a separate geographical location. From time to time in such remote labs, components physically present at the lab but utilized remotely by the customer must be reconfigured or repaired. Depending on the hardware or services, the reconfiguration may need to occur in a particular order. Often times, the customer is aware of that order while the technicians physically present at the remote lab site are not. Providing such ordered steps along with explanation for the reconfiguration manually is inefficient, tedious, and prone to errors.
Similarly, a remote data center is a collection of computing hardware and software that can be accessed from a remote location to initiate, monitor, and control useful computing operations. From time to time in such remote data centers, it is desired to physically reconfigure or otherwise physically alter the state of the hardware in the data center. This may be to facilitate addition or alteration of optional hardware features, change network connections, perform hardware upgrades, or effect repair of hardware. These tasks may require several steps that must be performed in a particular order. The datacenter technicians physically present at the datacenter may not be aware of the specific process required. Again, providing such ordered steps along with explanation for the reconfiguration manually is inefficient, tedious, and prone to errors.